New Boiler/Balance/Bouncing Water

Nelson

We just had a new stream replacement steam boiler installed today for out one pipe system. Everything looks great, no copper, dropped header, etc. As part of the installation, the contractor replaced the old T87 t-stat with a new digital one.

I have two questions:

How much bouncing should there be in the sight glass? The water slowly raises from the middle of the glass all the way to the top...and I can see water dropping down from the top? Is this normal for a 'modern' steam boiler?


2) The radiator at the end of one of the mains (located in the entry way ) is nearest to the T-stat. With the old bolier, this rad was slow to heat but eventually got hot.
Now with the new boier, this rad has taken almost two hours to come up to full heat. Since this rad is closest to the T-stat, it has a major role in determining when the T-stat shuts off. Even though every other rad in the house is blistering hot, I can still feel cold air venting from the slow-to-heat rad. The mains are well vented with Gorton #2s.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Unknown

The new system

will definitely need a good cleaning - skimming the boiler and flushing out the returns . I'm not sure if the contractor did this after the install , but it does sound like the classic symptoms .

On new installs we will leave in a mild cleaner to work it's magic , then come back to flush it all out in a few days . A good cleaning could take a few hours , maybe more . Did the contractor say he would include a cleaning with the job ?

soot_seeker_2

Just as Ron said...

...everything you describe is probably caused by oil and dirt in the water. The installer should come back and spend a few hours cleaning this...

Ed

Tom S.

For me...

a good draining and skimming of my new boiler made the difference of a short main not heating until 45 minutes into the burn, which meant most of the time it didn't heat at all.

After skimming, it heats in less than 10 minutes!

You can see the full thread here:

My thread on the wall

Tom

Joe_39

how did you skim it

exactly?? I dont have a drain valve in the boiler to this from, only a lwco drain

Tom S.

It wasn't me..

my pro came and did the job. He did show me how to do it though (on my request) so I wouldn't have to bug him if/when it needs it again.

Since I am not a pro, I'm not comfortable giving you instructions, but basically it involves bringing the water level up to the same level as a drain valve at/near the top of the boiler and slowly letting hot water trickle out, taking the bad stuff floating on the top of the water with it.

Perhaps some pros will chime in with real instructions, but I would bet they'd want some pics before advising.

Tom

gerry gill

yup skimming needed...

and probably more than once..

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Steve Garson_2

After my ne boiler installation, we needed numerous skimmings over the course of a month to get things clean. The new boiler generates the steam so fast that it loosens up all kinds of crud that affects the boiling of the water. With a skim tapping at the top, you insert a nipple long enough to avoid accidently wetting your burner or electronics along with a ball valve to shut off the flow between bucket fulls.

With a hot boiler, but no burner running, open the skim tap and SLOWLY add water until it reaches the point where it will flow out the tapping. Have a couple of buckets available. The hot water can seriously hurt you, so you must be very careful.

Let the water flow in at a rate where it will fill a 5-gallon bucket in around five minutes. Keep doing this for a couple of hours (no kidding).

Then drain the boiler completely from the drain valve and fill to the water line. Remember to fill slowly to avoid shock to the castings from the cold water.

Cover your ball valve with a plug and remove the handle to avoid an accident from a curious child or adult. Run your boiler until it generates steam to get the air out of the water.

Watch the site glass over the week and don't be surprised if you have to do the same thing several times. I did it three times before I was content. All works well now.

Nelson

Thanks

Thanks everyone, I'll have the pro clean and skim. The question still
remains about the rad closest to the T stat. It takes FOREVER to get
heat. I even took the vent off and could feel blasts of cold air coming
out. And even with the vent out, it still took over an hour for this
rad to come to full heat when all the others came to full heat in much less time.

?????